Natives on an Eight-Day Mexican Riviera Christmas Cruise From San Diego To: Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, La Paz, and Cabo San Lucas
21 Jan 2011 14 Comments
in Family Activities, International Travels
First of all, let me say how lucky and blessed all sixteen of us are to have been granted this wonderful cruise experience and second of all you have just observed the most expensive family photo known to man. The shipboard photographers hold the most observable, most documentable evidence that the sixteen of you really appeared, acted and participated singly and collectively in this memorable experience. This being said, they hold the money key. They can charge you the sun, the moon and sky and they do. For each copy collectively and or individually, is $39.95 per sheet. On each sheet is a pose with two-wallet size of each. There are sixteen of us. For formal night alone at $39.39 each is big money, so will you do the math? Who are they kidding? The thing is they are not kidding. You pay and you pay big or you do not receive any visual documents of your trip. You see the family formal night photo don’t you? We took brownie camera shots, but they do not do justice in comparison to the gorgeous shots taken by the ship’s photographers. Plus let me add that when one of you is clicking, you are not in the photo. All and all what I am trying to say is they have you by the earlobes.
Traveling with a family of sixteen uniquely individualistic people has its challenges. In spite of the challenges we melded and bonded on this trip and became whole. For any amount of money you can name, we would not have been able to buy this perfect experience from beginning, middle and end. It just happened by the grace of God and the forces that bind that the memories; the melding and the bonding are still in place. I am not saying that a family cruise will solve all of your problems, it could even exacerbate them, but for us it was heaven sent. If you think this is for you I know a great and wonderful travel agent, Glenda, at Frosch Classic Cruise and Travel, who will work out all the kinks for you; there are kinks and tricks to putting this all in place and she will do it as graciously for you as she did for us. You too, may just have all the luck and marvel we had, so let me know, I will give you her particulars and she will wave her magic wand over your exciting departure, your splendid adventures and your safe return.
Brilliant idea: Some members of the group stopped at Best Buy on the way to the ship and bought sets of Walkie Talkies for each family. We were able to easily keep tabs on each other and join up more easily. We decided to adopt code names for the members of our group. We are not quite sure we are finished, but for now, meet: Bright Light, Jackpot, Wonder Woman, Starfish, Queen Bee, G-Man, Morning Glory, Food Snob, Pita, His Majesty, Ladder, Justice, Chipmunk, Bandage, Dream Girl and Maybeline. So guess who’s who?
Ports of Call:
PUERTO VALLARTA
After two days at sea on a nice ship, but one that needs to be put in for refurbishing, we docked in Puerto Vallarta. As the sun began to rise and the ship was secured, we took a walk on the promenade deck. The first thing you see is Wal-Mart, but beyond that, Puerto Vallarta is a bustling town full of traffic and people coming and going. The town center has maintained cobblestone streets and most of the homes and buildings look unfinished and rough. There is a reason for this state of the structures. If you finish your home or building you have to pay taxes and if you are still working on it you do not. Would you finish construction on your building? Neither does anyone else. The total look of the town is bumpy, course, ragged, frayed, tattered, and shabby, but you get to keep a number of thousands in tax money in your pocket.
Each member of our family was able to procure a souvenir or two from Puerto Vallarta, the unfinished, town of cobblestones, nearly paved and dirt roads full of unfinished homes and buildings. My souvenir was a small watercolor painting given to me by my son-in-law, Ladder. The people we encountered are friendly, seemingly happy, sweet and good looking. We bargained with a few vendors, which is the national way of tourist business.
MAZATLAN
We all loved arriving in Mazatlan because we have been waiting for the treasured sights that abound in this Mexican seaside town. We saw the sights in town and out of town. After a visit to the high divers, we visited an area in the heart of Mazatlan where they have every conceivable type of store in a huge intense market. Included are some photos of the meat stalls. As you can see I was intrigued by the preparation of meat from the whole animal to it’s parts and pieces.
After visiting this fantastic market, we had lunch on an inviting sandy beach, followed by a trip to the Golden Zone to a visit some of the beautiful tourist hotels. We had time to spend at a gorgeous hotel offering beach lounging. Activities offered on the beach are: parasailing, banana boat rides, kayaking, snorkeling, scuba diving, jet skiing, and other great water activities. The day passed all to quickly. Mazatlan is a place one must consider for a return visit.
LA PAZ, BCS, MEXICO
We docked a ways from town and all we could see looked like a semi-deserted area in a full desert environment. We did not know what to expect and were anticipating this new experience. What a charmingly beautiful surprise awaited our arrival. La Paz is as beautiful and authentic as it gets. As soon as you leave the deserted dock area, there is an endless array of natural beauty connecting land and sea, and then, you come to the little town built on a hill with all you will ever need and full of places to explore. Needless to say, independently, the 16 of us spent the day in La Paz. We even had a little time to spend on the beach looking into the bluest, greenest water, in competition with the world’s most beautiful water scenes.
CABO SAN LUCAS
Cabo San Lucas is beautiful. It sits on the south end of the Baja Peninsula. Whatever you are looking for, you will find in Cabo. The hospitality of this town surrounds you the minute you step into its charm. The harbor is beautiful and very busy.
Our family went Swimming with the Dolphins. Everyone had a wonderful time in Cabo!
Cabo presents world-class golf courses, world-class hotels, boats of all nature in a classically dazzling harbor, shopping galore, fabulous food and sport fishing. I mention sport fishing because we had an opportunity to visit Cape Marine, a store owned by Emily and Harold’s son, Phillip. Who are Emily and Harold? They are our friends. They have a Condo in Cabo and come often from Pacific Beach to visit their son Phillip and family. We had afternoon tea together and walked around the harbor until it was time for us to board our tender back to the ship.
Lastly, and by no means least, I must let you know that lady luck did not desert Skip. He DID win the Blackjack tournament on the ship with the usual T-shirts and a hefty monetary prize as well. I note this because as you now know, he has won every blackjack tournament on every cruise we have ever taken. He wonders if it is skill or luck? What do you think?
In conclusion, this is what we achieved and how I appreciate the wisdom and effort it took all of us to get here: Taking sixteen of your family members on a cruise has many epic tasks. It is like opening a million-piece puzzle set, dumping the pieces out on your dining room table and beginning to put the pieces together. At first it is slow going. The pieces are stubborn and just a few come together leaving the field open. More and more as you work on it, the pieces slowly but surely come together, and the puzzle is formed. That’s exactly how our cruise came together. Putting the puzzle parts together was work, love, and respect. The lessons learned are observable and hidden.
The addition to our lives and the putting of the puzzle together involved the shedding of our old selves, the good, the observable, the hidden and the unexplainable. Then came the adding of the individual collections together; created the forming of a cohesive family. The divisions are individual and deep seated. They remain with each individual piece, but added together makes the unit complete. Pieces get moved, shuffled, re-arranged making room for new additions and or subtractions, but the nucleus remains an important hub and as the puzzle forms and comes to fruition, it is ready for the glue and the shellac.
You ask, what did we do as we worked on pulling all of the million of pieces together? We ate, ate, ate, and ate some more. On sea days, we had breakfast; brunch and lunch, tea, snacks, dinner and some went off in search of late night munchies. There were daily shipboard activities presented all day long to whet the intellectual appetites as well. We began to move and wander together like a school of fish.
At each port there were many shore excursion suggestions: We collectively visited a tequila factory, snorkeled, participated in a Mexican Fiesta, learned to make tortilla’s, swam with the dolphins, rode distances into the countryside, discovered towns, visited authentic villages, shopped, danced, cooked, observed sea lions, viewed sculptures, creative and awesome art work and learned to appreciate the creativity and diligence involved in hand made goods; met new friends, visited with old friends and soaked up the warm Mexican sun. Let me end this much too long elucidation that traveling with a family of sixteen uniquely individualistic people of varying age ranges is not easy, not hard, but it had its challenges. Mostly we got to know the pieces of the puzzle better, and paved the way for a future of closer family ties.
Okay you skeptics, you say it can’t be true and it isn’t totally, because , we had to come home to real life scenarios. Real life trumps everything else.
NATIVES ON TOUR IN LAS VEGAS FOR THANKSGIVING
07 Jan 2011 11 Comments
in Family Activities, Holiday Celebrations
Natives on Tour in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving
How can I begin this saga? I will begin with regret. Regret that we chose Las Vegas for our Thanksgiving weekend and high regret for the place we chose to stay. I cannot name the place because that would not be fair, but perhaps you can guess.
The check in process went smoothly and when you are checking in for seven rooms, this says a lot about the registration department of this hotel. I mention “the hotel” because; I never set foot outside of it due the trauma that was to unfold on the inside.
Everyone began to settle into their room assignments. I upgraded ours because I felt we needed a larger space to meet and greet.
At first the upgraded room from hell looked good. It was on the 62nd floor facing the airport. After enjoying a few take offs and landings we set about nesting. Within the first twenty minutes my black pants were full of blonde hairs. I called down and asked the front desk if perhaps this was as doggie room. She assured me it was not. There were further masses of hairs clinging to my pants. I called Housekeeping and they came to increase the cleaning process. Then, an inspector came up to see that the job was done. I took my black sweater and rubbed my arm all along the sides of the bed and furniture. More masses of hairs clung. The woman’s jaw dropped and she said the house cleaners would come again. They came and this time I stayed to watch the process. They changed all the bedding and vacuumed all along the sides of the furniture several times and that seemed to solve the problem for cleanliness for the most part. It took the rest of our day to get this job done. What irks me to no end is that I paid good hard earned money for this upgrade from Hell. It was not a free upgrade or a compensated room.
I need to mention that the phones did not work, except for the ones in each bathroom. I spent a good amount of time on the potty seat talking from the bathroom, which possessed the only working phone to call the various people when I needed to get help. They never did fix the phones for normal talking; they got them to work on speakerphone, which is a yelling kind of talking. Talking exclusively on speakerphone is frustrating and headache producing for certain.
An Ethical Will To My Children: I Did Not Give You Life to Prolong Mine.
11 Nov 2010 5 Comments
in Family Activities, Reflections, Trials and Tribulations
1971
When I was very young, I explored dying. Not the horrid slow, suffering kind of dying I came to view as I grew into my aging years, done by grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and friends. As a youngster, I viewed dying as leaving some very sad people and how they would grieve for me.
I am not afraid to die; I am afraid of the pain and long suffering and I do not want grieving. I want my death to be a celebration. I am afraid of the care that I will need to survive. Please God, please children of mine, do not make me survive past the time I can rise from my bed, take the pills I need to keep my systems going, comb my hair, brush my teeth, pee, poop and feed myself. Do not let me live past giving myself life-giving care.
Four Daughters
03 Nov 2010 6 Comments
in Family Activities, Family History, Reflections
Here they are, four daughters in a row. Can you pick out the twins? I can. When the twins were babies I could be blindfolded and tell them apart just by their smell. I was very animalistic then about my babies. I still am. Better be careful. I bite.
No, I have not forgotten our wonderful loving son. He comes into view when we brought he twins into the house and he said, “Mom you had a girl and a boy and then you messed it all up.” Now, he cherishes all of the girls and they, him. But later we will talk son, talk, but for now it is daughter talk.
What is a daughter? Goodness, a daughter is so many things it would fill pages and pages, but let me see if I can condense it for you. A daughter is a challenging and trying human being that you love no matter what. Sometimes you think you have created a monster and other times an angel. Daughters do not take all that you have to give, they tend to leave a little more for next time. They give you only so much of what you need from them and keep you waiting to hear more. You want to know how their day went and how they are feeling. They say the word “fine” and you leave it at that creating a lull in the conversation. Sometimes on the other hand you get way more than you wanted in all ways. Not all daughters are the same; even if they share exact DNA, trust me.
You have heard many quotations about daughters no doubt. For example to quote a few, “A daughter is a gift of love.” “A son is a son until he takes a wife, a daughter is a daughter all of her life.”
Here is one that is priceless: “Watching your daughter being collected by her date feels like handing over a million dollar Stradivarius to a Gorilla.” Jim Bishop. Then, there are ones like:
“ A mother’s treasure is her daughter.” “ To a father growing old, nothing is dearer than a daughter. “ Oh this is all hogwash; ok not all, but mostly. Sorry, but I’ll bet each one of you can come up with a saying, a personal quote, closer to home and truer than the words I have quoted above. So I am waiting. Post your personal quote. Here is mine
“If you have a choice of a son or a daughter, order both.” Or, like my mother told me; “ I wish you a daughter just like yourself.”
THE TEA PARTY
21 Sep 2010 4 Comments
in Entertaining, Family Activities, Social Events
THE TEA PARTY: SEPTEMBER 19, 2010
Sometimes a party just clicks and it is spectacular from the conception of the idea to the planning stages as well as the event itself. This was one of those magical gatherings of the clan.
Musings: You have an idea that you haven’t used your collection of gorgeous teacups since the major earthquake in 1994 when you gathered them from the broken mess of so much clatter and clutter. You must have a tea party so you can use and enjoy the ones you saved that day. Okay, but what does as traditional English Tea Party, entail? It entails research. This was the birth of our Tea Party. By the way having an elegant tea party is very fashionable once again.
Get ready: First of all the tea is the star of the event, surrounded by dainty cucumber sandwiches, as well as sandwiches lightly buttered and topped with egg. Another popular tea sandwich is ham and watercress. Cream cheese is used in many combinations to craft and create fun tasty tea sandwiches. To make proper sandwiches, you have to have very thin bread minus the crusts. More
Natives are on Tour Again in Santa Barbara, California
20 Jul 2010 1 Comment
in Day Trips, Family Activities
Tomorrow, all seventeen of us we will head up to Santa Barbara, which is an hour and 20-30 minutes from home for a three day, two-night visit. We will all be staying at a quaint little B&B. I say that now because I really have not seen the place up close and personal. We will though, very soon. We have an outline of places to see and have left plenty of time for beaching. We will be located 1/2 block walk to the beach and I understand they have a wonderful playground on our beach, which will be perfect for the kids. Our list of things to definitely see begins with the Santa Barbara Zoo. You know that this zoo is one of the nation’s smallest, but most enjoyable, and family friendly. There are over 600 animals, so how small can it be??? More
Natives On Tour of Hollywood Return Home
12 Jul 2010 4 Comments
in Day Trips, Family Activities
We are home, all seventeen of us, from our “Natives on Tour in Hollywood” adventure. We did not feel like natives, we felt like tourists. Yes, before you can ask, we saw the Hollywood Wax Museum, Ripley’s Believe it or Not, and The Guinness World Records Museum. All of these entities need upgrading. But when in Hollywood, like when in Rome, you do and see what they have available to you. We ate at Miceil’s Pizza where nearly umpteen million years ago I went on my first date. It felt out of the ordinary to be sitting within sight of the table where I sat with a stranger eating my first taste of pizza, switching gears and looking at our family all sitting, eating, laughing, and enjoying the moment. We also ate at The Pig and Whistle, which is housed in a most wonderful, historical building and the food was very good. Morning came and we found our large party at Mel’s Diner, which was a perfect beginning of day two. By the way, you must also know that we ate our way all day at the coffee establishments and the various “snackettes,” mixed with an abundance of shopping and the offer of tours offered along the boulevard. There is no shortage of food, fun eating, shopping and people watching in Hollywood. In the middle of our jaunting, a huge cloud spread across the skies and within five minutes it started to rain. Hey, this is Southern California. It does not rain here in the summer. But it did. You should have seen Hollywood Boulevard with everyone scrambling for every nook and cranny to stay dry. The streets thinned of people and were soaked. Ten minutes later the rain had stopped and the streets began to dry. More
Natives on Tour in Hollywood
08 Jul 2010 3 Comments
in Day Trips, Family Activities
Our family lives in Los Angeles, California. It is a hop, skip, and a jump on the new subway to get to Hollywood Blvd, where we have six rooms reserved at the old (1927) Roosevelt Hotel. All seventeen of us are natives of Los Angeles, but we are going to play like tourists in Hollywood. There is enough to keep us constantly busy. We have two days on Hollywood Blvd and one night at the hotel. I will keep you posted on our adventure:Natives on Tour In Hollywood.
Our plans have us lunching at Musso and Frank’s, touring the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre with all of the characters on parade, viewing the stars of famous people on the Boulevard, seeing Toy Story 3 at the El Capitan, dining at The Pig and Whistle, and swimming at the hotel. The next day we will breakfast at Mel’s Diner, go on a tour of the Kodak Theater, walk the Walk of Fame, view the Wax Museum, and Ripley’s Believe it or not. Some of us plan to go to the Max Factor Museum while the others go on their appointed rounds. We want to make certain that we save enough time to enjoy the hotel and all its glory as well as seeing all of the wonderful places we have outlined for our adventure: Natives on Tour in Hollywood.
Today’s Bits and Pieces: Granny Maxine the Matchmaker
18 Feb 2009 Leave a Comment
Granny Maxine the Matchmaker.
April (our granddaughter) is in the first grade at Wilbur Ave School. She has a classroom volunteer the kids call Granny. Granny is the grandmother of a little boy named Devon.
Granny also happens to be Maxine the lady who fixed Skip and I up on a blind date all those years ago (49) and also wore my wedding dress after I did.
Granny was helping the teacher do something with the attendance cards and noticed that April’s emergency contact # was to call Sheila and Skip. She really made a big deal about it and the whole class and teacher were so excited about it. Granny told the class and the teacher the whole blind date story and the double wearing of the same wedding dress. It so happens April sits right next to Granny’s grandson Devon. What a revelation. Granny has been with the class since Kindergarten & they just found out about the connection. Cracky.
Granny called me to catch up after nearly 50 years and will call again when she comes to volunteer in the classroom. We will get together and chat awhile. April called and told me the story and she was so excited that she now knows the whole story about how her grandparents became introduced.
